Ecuador to recheck election registration for fraud

Ecuador: Ecuador's electoral court said Tuesday it will sample signatures submitted by political parties to register for national elections February 17 after finding nearly 300 fake signatures.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) announced it will check 10 percent of the nearly 2.8 million signatures submitted by parties including President Rafael Correa's Alianza Pais as part of the registration process.

Last week, the CNE filed a complaint with the attorney general after finding what it said were 293 falsified signatures submitted by various parties. Among the names that were falsely signed were those of 63 officials of the electoral body.

Correa, who can run for re-election, has denounced the forgeries as one of the countries "biggest political frauds," claiming that 70 to 80 percent of the signatures submitted by some parties were fake.